Book Review- Beloved by Toni Morrison

Set after the American Civil War, Beloved tells the story of the abhorrent African- American slave trade. It speaks candidly, about the hardships slaves were forced to endure, the terrible atrocities that happened to them, the racist remarks, and the appalling living conditions.

  I found it to be a difficult read, not in a lexical sense, but more from an understanding viewpoint. I didn’t feel the author invited me to ‘feel’ for the main character, as a reader I like to sense that I am involved in some way, and immerse my within the story. I felt more like an outsider, that I was the guy at the party who nobody really knew, but had ‘invited’ himself along, to find out what goes on inside a strangers house. But that’s not to say, I didn’t find the story to be extremely emotive, due to the sadness provoked by the imagery of slavery.

   The main protagonist Sethe, goes through unfathomable experiences at Sweet Home (an irony the reader can recognise instantaneously) before finally escaping to the state of Ohio. The reader is led to believe that Sethe’s callous life as a slave will now cease to exist, but tragedy strikes again eighteen years later. Her new home, is haunted by the memories of her past, but also by the ghost of her baby, who died without a name and whose gravestone simply says ‘beloved.’

  The book is highly regarded in literary circles, but from a personal viewpoint, this isn’t the genre that captures my imagination or attention. I found the style to be rather formulaic, slow and difficult to follow. It took me a while to realise the significance behind ‘124’ a number which is ubiquitous in the book- and is important to the overall narrative.

   I think, it would be interesting for me to read another Toni Morrison book, and see if I am more receptive to the style and content now that I have read Beloved. I could also read the former again, in a more analytical way and hope to extract more of an understanding, than I had the first time around.